Leadership is a Choice!

Dear Managers and Leaders!

I’m reading an excellent book these days called “The First 90 Days” by Michael Watkins. The book describes strategies to succeed in your leadership transitions. If not prepared properly, a transition to a new leadership role can become a nightmare, a big failure that will hurt your career for a long time if not forever. This book explains how to avoid the major leadership transition pitfalls. You will probably hear me talking more about this book in the coming weeksJ.

The first strategy explained in the book is that you have to promote yourself. You have to accept that you are now in a new position and that you have to change the way you do things and the way you think to be adapted to your new situation. As they say, what brought you here will not carry you forward. You are in a new position with different responsibilities. You can’t act as if you were still in your previous job. If you do, you will fail miserably!

This made me think that leadership is really a choice. You do not become a leader because you are promoted into a position of authority. The position will confer you a certain authority, but it will not give you any leadership if you do not know how to take advantage of your new position. You really need to make the leap and choose to act and think as a leader. This is natural for some people, it is not so natural for others.

So, what does it mean to act and think as a leader, you will ask? It means a number of important basic things:

        (1)    You have to stop doing and start facilitating, directing, inspiring, and empowering. You could see yourself as the one who needs to remove all the roadblocks so that your followers can do more. It is not you doing, but your followers.

        (2)    You are now responsible for creating a vision for an entire team, not just for yourself. You can’t act as if you are in isolation. You have to take into account that other people depend on you and you have to ask for their input as you make decisions (The 6 Steps To Leadership describes that well).

        (3)    You are now accountable for what your followers are doing. You need to follow what they are doing, be interested in what they are doing, and make sure that they are doing the right thing.

        (4)    Do not tell people how to do things, but rather tell them what needs to be done and why it is so important that it be done.

I’m sure this list can grow some more. You can help me by adding commenting on this post.

The important thing as you are promoted to a leadership position is that you need to let go of the past and learn how to succeed in your new role. You have to make that choice to leave the comfortable position you were in before your promotion and jump into a less comfortable leadership position. Leadership is all about choice, and the first one you have to make is to actually be a leader!

Until next time,

Remi Cote